Poetry Speaks Who I Am is a unique take on helping to introduce readers to modern as well as classical poetry. The novel include works from some of my all-time favorite poets, so it was really nice to be able to sit down with one novel and have them all together. Poetry Speaks Who I Am is a very nice sized book. Not too much, but not too little either. Of course, I am comparing this to my college English anthologies which range in the thousands of pages.The authors of this novel definitely had teens in mind when putting this collection together. The pages all have a grungy look to them, and is filled with cute little doodles which looks like something I would have done to my writing notebook. In addition, the themes of the poems are full range. You have poems that deal with love... social issues... you name it and it is probably in there.This collection stands out for me because... 1.) It comes with a CD which has many of the living poets reading their own works. And 2.) There is a nice area in the back of the book where readers and (inspiring) poets can jot down their own thoughts or poems. This makes the novel really reader friendly on many levels. While I must admit that I am not a poet, inspiring or otherwise, this novel almost made me wish I was. It is a wonderful collection which that will either ease you nicely into poetry or help introduce you to some poets that you may not have seen before.
